In known methods and arrangements of this kind, use is made of long-stator linear motors (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,654, DE 199 22 441 A1) which include, as a primary member, a long stator which is laid out longitudinally of a given track and which has at least one long-stator winding (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,329, U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,382) in which a travelling electromagnetic field, which advances in the direction of movement of the vehicle to be operated, is generated. What acts as a secondary member on the other hand is an exciter arrangement which is mounted on the vehicle and generally extends for the entire length of the latter (e.g. DE 34 10 119 A1) and which is composed of electromagnets which also act as supporting magnets. The long-stator winding is usually sub-divided into a plurality of winding sections which are situated directly behind one another in the direction of travel, which are separated from one another electrically by changeover points and which, although at lengths of 1000 m to 2000 m for example they are comparatively short, are still considerably longer than the vehicle, which may for example be up to 250 m long. Laid out parallel to the track there are also a plurality of comparatively long (e.g. approx. 20 km long) track-segment cables or track-cables which are connected at one end (=single feed) or at both ends (=double feed) to so-called sub-stations in which the voltage sources, in the form of converters, local control means and the like, required for supplying the long-stator winding with current and voltage are installed. To limit energy consumption and the effective impedance, it is only ever those winding sections in which the vehicle is situated at the time which are supplied with current, which is done by connecting the individual winding sections individually and in succession to assigned track-segment cables and voltage sources, with the help of switching means, in line with the movement of the vehicles. Appropriate changeover means may be provided for the connections between the track-segment cables and the voltage sources (DE 29 32 764 A1). When magnetically levitated vehicles of this kind are being operated, the voltage sources supply voltages which are substantially equal to the sum of the voltage induced by the vehicle (inductor voltage), the voltage drop across the relevant winding section and the voltage drop across the associated part of the track-segment cable.
Because of the mode of operation which has been described, the driving means, i.e. the motor for the magnetically levitated vehicle is sub-divided into a plurality of motor regions which follow one another in the direction of the track. Each motor region contains at least one track-segment cable, winding sections assigned to the track-segment cable, and at least one voltage source connected to the track-segment cable for the supply of energy. There can in this case, for practical and technical reasons, only ever be one magnetically levitated vehicle in each motor region, i.e. a succeeding vehicle may not enter a motor region until a preceding vehicle has left the said motor region. This means that the timing of services or the frequencies of service, i.e. the intervals between the vehicles, and the timetable when vehicles are at the maximum permitted frequency are preset at fixed figures by the lengths of the motor regions and can no longer be changed once a railway for magnetic levitation has been built. Arrangements of the kind described have therefore, to date, been operated with frequencies of service which are the same for all the magnetically levitated vehicles. Consequently, a plurality of vehicles travelling on the track are always spaced apart from one another at the same intervals in time.
In the practical application of magnetic levitation railways of this kind a requirement has arisen for vehicles to be allowed to travel on the same track at different frequencies of service. In particular, the intention is that the vehicles should be able to stop at different stops, should follow different speed profiles and should be able to run every ten minutes for example, but also, if need be, every five minutes. As a result of a mode of operation of this kind, it needs to be possible for two vehicles to be spaced apart at longer intervals at certain points along the track, and at other points to move up considerably closer to one another than would be the case if the frequency of service remained the same. However, with the arrangements known hitherto, this is possible, at best, by reducing the length of the motor regions as appropriate at the places where the vehicles move up closer to one than usual, so that two vehicles can still be operated by one assigned motor region each even when the interval between them is the shortest possible one. This is not in any way acceptable in view of the considerable increase in the cost of installation that it involves and the fact that the need for non-uniform frequencies of service generally only exists for a certain time, i.e. at given times of day or when there are unforeseen operating conditions.